ROSÉ TIME 2004 PALLIÈRES PA DIDIER BARRAL FAUGÈRES

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August Woods
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1 KERMIT LYNCH wine merchant 1605 san pablo ave. berkeley, ca fax presorted first class u.s. postage PAID san francisco, ca permit no return service requested ROSÉ TIME 2004 PALLIÈRES PA DIDIER BARRAL FAUGÈRES OPEN Tuesday Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. CLOSED Sunday & Monday JUNE 2006

2 THAT ROSÉ TIME OF YEAR My staff and i drink rosé year-round because we like to, but no one can deny that there is a rosé time of year, and that this is it. With sunny skies and long, leisurely evenings before night falls, rosé not only hits the spot tastefully, now it even looks prettier in the glass, especially outdoors. And by the way, car camping with an ice chest and a case of rosé in the trunk is an enlightened path. A number of brand-new 2005s have arrived: per bottle per case 2005 Corbières Rosé Gris de Gris Domaine de Fontsainte $12.50 $ Coteaux du Languedoc Rosé Château Saint Martin de la Garrigue Coteaux du Languedoc Rosé Château La Roque Saint-Chinian Rosé Mas Champart Bandol Rosé Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé Domaine de Terrebrune Bandol Rosé Domaine du Gros Noré REUILLY PINOT GRIS ROSÉ DOMAINE DE REUILLY A Pinot Gris on the rosé page? I don t think anyone will argue, because this wine combines two great pleasures in one wine. Have your Pinot Gris and rosé, too. The grapeskins provided the tinge of rosé color. I was surprised when the winemaker poured it, but in fact there is a tradition of Pinot Gris rosé in the lost little village of Reuilly, in the Loire, about forty miles from Sancerre. According to James Wilson s book Terroir, a rosé from the Pinot Gris is given quite high marks. The soil is sandy with some Kimmeridgian chalk. Enjoy the aromatics of the Pinot Gris in this light, racy rosé. $16.00 per bottle $ per case /

3 hpre-arrival OFFERj 2004 GIGONDAS DOMAINE LES PALLIÈRES Some tasters believe that 2004 made the greatest Pallières in decades. Great for what? For the quality of its tannins, its bold flavors, and its aging potential. It is alive and loaded with classic Pallières aroma and flavors. It is also a treat to chew it around a bit before swallowing, to luxuriate in its luscious tannins. We changed the fermentation cellar, which improved the tannins. More on that below. As to aging potential, a wine s capacity to evolve and change and improve with age is certainly a mark of greatness. Your kids and their kids will still be enjoying this 2004 after you re outta here, if you manage to leave a few bottles behind. The 1978 Pallières still drinks well, yet it suƒered horrible temperatures every summer where we found some bottles stored under a foudre. The 2004 will be good for three or four decades. If you want to drink it young, well, my partners and I loved it enough to pull a decanter s worth out of a foudre to drink with lunch before it was even bottled. Drink the 2004 young, old, and in between. When we bought Pallières, the Bruniers and I were happy with the 40- to 100-year-old vines, but not so thrilled with the winery installation. First we airconditioned everything and then began to design our new cellar, a cellar only for the wine s fermentation. You could call it the wine s birthplace. Impressed by what I had tasted during my travels, I argued for oak fermentation vats. The Bruniers liked cement for its superb, even distribution of temperature, and stainless steel, which is cheap and easy to maintain. So we had three identically shaped vats constructed: oak, cement, and stainless. We then vinified a cuvée of 2001 in each. When we judged the results, we had three diƒerent wines. The stainless steel seemed fruity but superficial. The Bruniers voted for the cement vat; I liked the oak. The ideal wine was a blend, oak and cement. It gave the deepest, most complex wine, and we were surprised by the beautiful tannic texture. So we decided half and half, oak and cement. Here is our first wine from the new cellar. Check it out for a few decades. PRE-ARRIVAL PRICE $ per case Also available in tenths, magnums, jeroboams, and methuselahs Pre-arrival terms: Minimum half-case order; half-payment due with order, balance due upon arrival.

4 hnew ARRIVALSj 2000 CHIANTI CLASSICO RISERVA VILLA DI GEGGIANO Happily, the wine of Geggiano resembles the personalities of the two brothers Bandinelli who run the place now (it has been in the family since 1527 and a pope slept there). They are easygoing, well mannered, and generous. Unpretentious. Likable guys, likable wines. You can see the Geggiano estate (located near Siena) in the movie Stealing Beauty. Or take a look at their sailboat in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Or drink their wine in the comfort of your own home. The 2000 Riserva is excellent. As you know, it was a good vintage all over France and Italy. And listen to this: the two brothers did not like their 2001, so they did not bottle it. Bad news, but bravissimo to them for their integrity. $24.95 per bottle $ per case 2004 CORBIÈRES ROUGE DOMAINE DE FONTSAINTE Fontsainte s red is so good, you don t drink it only because it is reasonably priced. It has everything, including interest and deliciousness. The 2004 is in a full, chewy style, loaded with spicy, peppery fruit. It wins two awards at once: it is an Old Reliable, and our Value of the Month. $9.95 per bottle $ per case 2003 FAUGÈRES DIDIER BARRAL There are never enough Barral reds. Biodynamically produced Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Carignan grown in the schistic soil of Faugères? Yeah, it works, as you will see in these new arrivals. His 2003s show even greater depth than usual, with a hint of roasted coƒee bean in the ripe fruit. They have plenty of body, and while they are bone dry, the fruit on the palate speaks sweetly. Opulent perfume on the finish. per bottle per case Faugères $19.95 $ Jadis Valinière

5 2003 CALVI ROUGE E PROVE DOMAINE MAESTRACCI The winemaker Michel Raoust, a native of the Rhône Valley, married into this domaine and moved into a landscape so epic and grandiose that a photo cannot do it justice. When I showed up last summer, however, a forest fire fed by a terrifying mistral had burnt almost everything to the ground except the vines. The ground was still smoking here and there. In the cellar, we worked long and hard on this unfiltered blend, available only in the United States. Just imagine, it contains: 10% brand-new foudre 30% very old foudre 10% four-year-old demi-muid 20% five-year-old demi-muid 20% six-year-old demi-muid 10% eight-year-old demi-muid There were also new barrels and new demi-muids (oak casks that each hold about two and a half barrels worth), but we ended up rejecting them because the tannin of the new oak did not marry well with the wine s tannins, turning them dry and shortening the aftertaste. Drink this beauty like you would a Rhône or a Bandol. $17.00 per bottle $ per case 2004 PIC SAINT LOUP ROUGE CHÂTEAU LA ROQUE La Roque might be for sale if you can come up with a few million. It is worth having. There is beautiful land, lots of privacy, an ancient château and tower, a superb vineyard, and a far-from-state-of-the-art winery. Romans made themselves at home there. It is a very large dream-come-true. The Mediterranean is only twenty miles away. Now for the rest of us, here is La Roque s red in the 2004 version. Loads of fruit, mostly Syrah and Grenache, quite fresh, crunchy, and delicious. Everything is in balance, no rough edges. I like the way it seems full but not heavy. $14.95 per bottle $ per case?

6 BERKELEY S OLIVIA RESTAURANT Ihave been accused, yes, accused, of being a Francophile. Nonsense. I may be a French-wine-ophile, but even that is a stretch because the French wines I adore represent only a small percentage of France s wine production. Lots of things in France bug me. Here s one. Remember the recent street demonstrations in France regarding employment laws? I keep an o ce in France. An employee decided to follow her husband when his firm moved him elsewhere. Rather than resign, she decided to screw up her work so I would fire her. That way the government bureaucracy would force me to cough up some loot. Pay her to leave, if you will. At the o cial hearing, I was not even allowed to attend. She could be heard, I couldn t. Justice? And how can you call me a Francophile when I swear that it is now easier to get a good meal here in the Bay Area than it is in Provence? If Berkeley s Olivia existed near Bandol, I would dine there whenever I am at my home in France. But no, the local restaurants over there are so pathetic, my wife and I don t even have an address to give you. We cook in all the time. I single out Olivia, but I could have mentioned other favorite local kitchens. We have an abundance. Last year I tried some starred restaurants in Paris and on my wine route. Only one, Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu, fed me as well as our best Bay Area restaurants do. My, how the situation has changed in the past twentyfive years. I single out Olivia because they deserve your patronage and because they have an all Kermit Lynch wine list. Yes, you heard me correctly. I want to point out to all you overworked sommeliers: it can be done! Olivia is the proof. Think of all the time you would save. Think of the quality, the diversity, the consistency, the great prices, plus the impeccable service my staƒ provides. Watch out, though your staƒ will be drinking any dregs your clients leave behind. So, excellent cuisine, earth s finest wines, and Olivia is only ten minutes from my front door. Just the other night we enjoyed a classic coq au vin with a bottle of Jobard s Bourgogne rouge. Remember what a classic coq au vin used to taste like before every genius in a chef s hat decided to get creative? Olivia s menu is short and changes nightly. Chef Nathan Peterson does wonders with fowl, long-cooked braises and daubes, and I hope he repeats his gumbo and his delicious Catalan fish stew. Olivia is a cozy little hole-in-the-wall at 1453 Dwight Way, Berkeley, phone v

7 LOIRE WHITES 2005 TOURAINE SAUVIGNON DOMAINE ALEX MATHUR When is Sauvignon Blanc not Sauvignon Blanc? Here is one that shows no varietal character. Instead, it is wearing a dry, minerally hat. There is some subtle, ripe fruit to the aroma and palate, but I would never guess it to be from Sauvignon Blanc. No grassiness. And the minerality is beautifully bound into that fruit. Perfect balance, a model of discretion, unexpectedly long and fine. But if you like the new semi-sweet style of a lot of new world dry wines, nope, not for you. This one is dry and crisp, and very special. It drinks well. $13.00 per bottle $ per case 2005 QUINCY DOMAINE JAUMIER Quincy is pronounced sort of like can-see. And here s another Sauvignon Blanc that is not varietally obvious. The vintage it is, folks, that renders the Sauvignon into a state of subtlety and even charm. On the palate, Jaumier s 2005 acts a lot like a Chablis. There is a dryness, an austerity, a stony quality, plus an almost tannic grain to the feel of it on your tongue. Both wines live up to a KLWM goal: the last glass is better than the first. $16.00 per bottle $ per case 2004 SAVENNIÈRES CUVÉE SPÉCIALE CHÂTEAU D EPIRÉ A true vin de terroir, a Jaded Palate classic, a personal favorite, Epiré s cuvée spéciale ain t for sissies, and you can quote me. Just kidding, folks. Sissy is a word not usually in my vocabulary. I have noticed, though, that it is very important these days that a wine be macho. When I tasted it out of the barrel, there was a lot of rich, exotic fruit combined with the appellation s unique black slate minerality. The bottling and shipment (the first unfiltered and the latter refrigerated) seem to have closed up the aroma for the moment, so decant it a few minutes for current enjoyment. An older Epiré is something to treasure. This one will make great drinking over twelve to fifteen years. That s my guess. $22.00 per bottle $ per case

8 THE COLETTE/ GEORGE SAND DISCOUNT Yes, here we go again: what good is a red without a white to precede it? And what good is a white without a red to follow it? To prove this point, this time we go all out: two gorgeous wines from two of France s top domaines at a discount! Now the secret of success here is to drink the white before the red. That s the only way to get the spiritual-natureof-the-universe vibration really throbbing along. The white is dandy all by itself, but if you then add to itself a prelude aspect, a leading-into-othernessness, you sort of kill two birds with one stone. Same with the red. As a red, yes, it seems complete unto itself, but add to that a sort of finale aspect and the universe seems to expand at a discount! 2003 ZIND DOMAINE ZIND-HUMBRECHT For reasons having nothing to do with quality, we received this wine back from one of our distributors. It is three years old. That s not old, but time has opened it up aromatically. It is a sumptuous feast. And I don t think it has stopped improving, unfolding. Pay attention to the way this wine hits the palate. Well, it doesn t hit the palate. It lands gently, caressingly on the palate, and then the perfumes seem to spread out and ease their way into your taste buds. $21.50 per bottle $ per case 2003 CHINON LES PETITES ROCHES DOMAINE CHARLES JOGUET No one can really predict how a vintage will evolve. Not with certainty. We pros make educated guesses. Right now, so far, 2003 seems to be the best vintage I ve tasted for Cabernet from the Loire. The grapes liked that sunshine! But wait, I do remember a fabulous 1964 I tasted from Breton at Bourgueil. And the 1959 Joguet was unforgettable. I d say that 2003 is up there, right up there with the best. But the 2003s taste great already, and who knows how they ll age. I say drink em. After the Zind, the Chinon is almost a shock. My god, what a strong character. And with your palate still under the influence of the white, you will vividly experience the character of the red. $17.50 per bottle $ per case Buyers of a mixed case six Zind, six Chinon will receive the 17% Colette/George Sand discount. Only $ per case!

In the heart of Provence

In the heart of Provence «It is not possible that all the countries have the same God The one that made Provence was an artist.» Anatole France, 1894 In the heart of Provence The appellation Côtes de Provence